Petruccio's Secret
by SuperJordan
Summary: What Petruccio really needed those feathers for was something no one could've imagined... GRIMDARK


"HELP, SOMEBODY, PLEASE!" The courtesan screamed as she ran through the dark alleyway. Suddenly, she tripped and a dark figure loomed over her ominously. The courtesan opened her mouth to scream one last time before the dark figure pulled a syringe out of his pocket and stuck it in her throat.

"Come on man, you don't have to do this" The small boy moved backwards until he found himself trapped in a corner. A larger boy walked menacingly towards him. " Yes I do, Ascanio. You ratted me out to the teacher, you dirty snitch. So, now you're gonna get your ass kicked." And with that the larger boy punched Ascanio in the gut. " YEAH, KICK HIS ASS!" The shouting from the other boys rang through Ascanio's ears, right before he was punched in the face and pushed to the ground. " There!" That should teach you not to be such a little bitch all the damn time." And with that, the larger boy dusted himself off and walked away.

"Where are you going?" One of the boys called out to him. "My madre told me to be back before dinner". "Okay then, see you tomorrow". Once again, the boy continued walking. However, he felt strange, as if someone was watching him from afar. He shrugged it off and proceeded his walk home. For a brief second he heard quiet footsteps walking fast behind him. He turned his head, nothing was there. He began walking frightfully faster. Before he could start to run, he felt the pinprick of a needle in the back of his neck, and then everything went black.

Emilio Bennati suddenly woke up. He was on his back and couldn't move. He couldn't see. Where was he? Freaking out, he was just about to scream when a doctor appeared before him.

"Hello" he said menacingly

"Where am I? What's going on?" the frightened little boy asked.

"Oh, where are my manners? I'm Dr. Luigi Malfatto. You are where because your number came up and I'm running low on medicine," Luigi explained.

"W-wha... what does that mean? What are you talking about?"

"Oh, nothing. I wouldn't worry about it if I were you. It'll be over soon." He approached the boy, scalpel at the ready when a familiar voice called out from behind.

"Mister Luigi, what are you doing?"

He paused and turned to look at Petruccio Auditore. He recognized him as a classmate of his before he was homeschooled. Even after, he would often see the boy wandering about the streets, before one of his siblings took him in. The sickly child walked up to Malfatto with an angry look on his face. Emilio started to feel relieved.

"I can't believe you're doing this!" He pouted. "You said this one was gonna be mine."

Malfatto apologized, "Oops, sorry about that. Guess I forgot! Here you go!" He handed the blade over.

Petruccio climbed on the table and stood over him. Emilio began to struggle. He stared in fear at the boy and his apron. The white, blood stained apron.

Petruccio grinned and open his mouth. "Hey Emilio. Long time no see, heh?"

Emilio heart started pounding and breathed heavily. Petruccio came closer with the sharp scalpel in his hand. "Wait!" Emilio yelped. "Petruccio, I-I'm sorry! I'm sorry for being cruel to you. I'm sorry about all those mean things I've said about you. I'm sorry about those mean things I said about you being sick, having no friends, and your family. I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!You have to believe me, Petruccio. I-I promise! I won't do it again!"

Emilio stared up fearfully at Petruccio and Malfatto. His tears stained his face.

"Oh, no, no!" Malfatto explained. "You see, all of my top quality medicine have a very special ingredients, each marked with a number. And then it just so happens that your number came up, so we have to use that particular special ingredient!"

Emilio was confused. His heart continued beat rapidly. "Wha-what you you mean?"

Malfatto headed over to Emilio, and whispered in his ear. "The special ingredient is... you."

Fear and panic struck Emilio right squirmed around fearfully, but his hands and his head were tied down on a backless frame. He looked at one of the corners of the room. He thought he saw something that looked like a woman, a courtesan, to be exact. She was stuffed and sewn together neatly.

"I-is-is that..." Emilio began to stammer.

"Oh," Malfatto said. "That's just my hobby. Taxidermy that is. Usually I'd use animals, but I was in the mood for something extreme...

"For heaven's sake, Luigi!" Petruccio grew impatient. "Can't we start yet?"

"Oh yes!" Malfatto replied. "Just have to get some more material and we'll get started asap!"

He turned away and began to walk towards something. He returned shorty, wheeling a cart with a tray covered in a white cloth. He removed the cloth, revealing all sorts of shiny, sharp instruments. Emilio's eyes grew larger and he whined. Petruccio looked at the tools in excitement.

"Now first," Malfatto began, "you work on the top of the thigh."

Petruccio cleared his throat, and Emilio trembled all over as the 11 year old held the scalpel just an inch above his thigh.

Emilio bit his lip hard, and watched as the scalpel in Petruccio's hand fall down onto his thigh, and the boy attempted to cut a small slit in his skin. Emilio started to whine louder. He wanted to kick his legs high in the air, but he was tied down too tightly. He screamed and the blood began to trickle down.

"What now?" Petruccio curiously asked.

"Now, slowly," Malfatto began, "you just cut it away!"

Petruccio began to cut off the flesh, and with ease, the boy removed a piece of skin. Emilio was crying and yelling like crazy. He began to sweat all over as Petruccio cut sliced the skin off his other thigh.

Emilio sobbed, and cried painfully as the blood flowed down his legs. Petruccio placed the slabs of skin on a separate tray on a table.

Emilio struggled against the metal restraints holding his hands. He finally relaxed his muscles and just sobbed to himself, giving up the fight. There was nothing he can do now.

Malfatto walked over to the boy with a knife in his hand. "Hmmm," he wondered, staring up at the dark ceiling, thinking. "Aha!" Malfatto cut a fragment out of Emilio's lower thigh, about the size of a golf ball. The Emilio watched in horror and disgust as Malfatto plopped the meat into his mouth, chewed, and swallowed.

"You're not bad!" he complimented. "It tastes even better than that courtesan!"

"May I try?" Petruccio pleaded.

"Of course!" Malfatto cut another strip out of Emilio's thigh. The boy bawled. The doctor handed the sample over to Petruccio, and Emilio just stared in fear as Petruccio ate it, swallowed it, and licked his lips.

"Now, the next thing we have to do is de-nail him," Malfatto said, walking over to a small can. Emilio and Petruccio watched as Malfatto removed the lid, revealing large, red-hot nails sitting on burning coal. "Smell it?" Malfatto asked Petruccio. "It's nice and hot."

"Even hotter than an lasagna fresh out of the oven!" the boy replied.

Malfatto picked up one of the nails. "NOOOOOOOOOOO!" Emilio screeched. "NO! NO! NO! NOOO!" He began to cry and whine like a baby. Malfatto was frustrated. He was definitely worse than that bitch courtesan.

Despite it, Malfatto walked over and placed the metal piece under his nails. Emilio felt the hot iron burning through his flesh. He began to sweat furiously. He had screamed so loud he was nearly losing his voice.

Completing the insertion of all 10 metal nails under Emilio's toenails, he called out, "Petruccio! See that hammer on the tray? Get it and bring it over here."

Petruccio obeyed. "And now, take one toe at a time, " Malfatto began, " and just hammer the nail down so that the toenail comes completely off!"

Petruccio raised the hammer with both hands high in the air. "NOOOOOOOO!" Emilio pleaded. "NO! PLEASE, DON'T!"

Petruccio brought the hammer down and nailed the iron nails deep into Emilio's toenail with a sickening CRACK. Emilio cried again. The pain was severely seeping through. Petruccio hammered the nails into Emilio's other toes. The pressure from the nails caused the blood to shoot high into the air. Once that was done, Petruccio placed the hammer aside.

Emilio screamed and bawled. The tears came down his eyes, and he dropped into a state of unconsciousness.

Emilio woke up again. His skin was as hot as fire, and the smell of smoke was everywhere. A blurry image of two people appeared before him. He blinked to get a better image of those people. A doctor and a boy, discussing something together.

He saw that Malfatto turned his head and looked at him. "Oh great! You're awake now!" he thought he heard him say. Malfatto walked over to the table and took out a knife, and handed it over to Petruccio. His dark brown hair danced as Petruccio skipped over to Emilio, and he held the knife close to his stomach. Emilio whimpered.

"Wait!" Malfatto said, reaching into a bag. "I almost forgot about this!" Emilio shuddered again as Malfatto pulled out an ominous green syringe.

"Oh, right," Petruccio said, placing the knife aside. He quickly returned holding the syringe in his hand. Emilio bit his lip and closed his eyes tightly as his classmate injected the medicine into his body.

Soon, Emilio couldn't feel anything from his lower body. He felt frozen like a piece of hard metal. Completely numb. Not even the pain was palpable through his body. Petruccio then cut open a slit in Emilio's stomach. Emilio stared nervously.

Petruccio reached in and pulled out the large intestine. The image before him made Emilio sick, and he immediately turned his head and vomited right onto the floor. He then looked up at Petruccio's disgusted face.

"Don't worry. We can clean that later," Malfatto said.

Emilio's mind was fading away.

Petruccio turned back to him again and started to remove the other internal organs. Placing each of them into a Emilio bucket, he took out the small intestine, the kidneys, the bladder, the liver, and then the stomach. Emilio felt like vomiting again, but he was blacking out. He didn't have the strength to throw up onto the floor anymore.

The next thing he saw was that Malfatto and Petruccio walked over and loomed above his head. He could make out that Malfatto was handing the boy a scalpel, and instructing his something.

Emilio gasped as Petruccio placed the blade into his throat, and worked the scalpel upward, and then around his neck. Then, he removed the skin and flesh off the bone, and that was the end of Emilio.

As soon as it was over, Petruccio helped Malfatto wash the tools, wipe away the excess blood, and clean up the mess that Emilio made. He walked over to his once-living classmate.

"No more Emilio Bennati" he said.

Malfatto stood up from his table, and bounced over to Petruccio.

"Here ya go, all done!" he said, handing the apron over to the boy.

Petruccio was pleased, and he held up his apron and looked at it. A brand new patch of skin was sewn on it.

"Say, Luigi " Petruccio said, "Since when'd you learn how to sew?"

"Oh, a loooong time ago," Malfatto replied, looking down at Petruccio's work.

"You have done well, my apprentice!" he praised. "Especially not bad for your very first try!"

Petruccio smiled happily at his mentor. But that smile soon faded as he began to go into a coughing fit.

"Oh, your cough is back." Malfatto went into the back room and returned with a vial filled with a dark red substance." You're lucky I had just distilled the blood and made a new batch of medicine. We were just about to run out." Malfatto handed the vial to Petruccio, who drunk it down greedily.

Petruccio walked over and handed the empty vial back to Malfatto. "So, what do I do now?" he asked.

"You're done!" Malfatto replied. "You can just go outside and play now!"

Petruccio hung up his apron neatly on a rack, happily trotted out of the room, outside into the bright and sunny day. He decided he'd better get back home and began his journey. The entire time he was walking he was extremely excited from the ordeal. He began thinking what he would do with his apron. Oh, how he shall decorate it. Make it outstanding. To make it distinctively Petruccio Auditore's. He thought about everything that he could add until his mind came across a collection of his. _Feathers_. Yes! Feathers would look beautiful on his apron. It would make him look awesome. It would make him look Legendary. About 10 minutes later, he was just outside the Palazzo Auditore. He stopped to look at the beautiful day once more before he would be forced into isolation. Just before he was going to go inside, he noticed not one, but three eagle feathers sitting on the rooftops. He was just about to go and get them when he saw a familiar figure climbing down a building " Hey, Ezio!"

Ezio looked in the direction of where the voice was coming from, then proceeded to walk towards his little brother.

" Petruccio! What are you doing outside? You should be in bed."

" I want those feathers." said Petruccio

Ezio looked behind him to see the feathers he was talking about. "What for?"

Petruccio couldn't help the evil grin that appeared at the corners of his lips.

"It's a secret"


End file.
